Chalking up 30 years, this tenacious company has much to celebrate, not least an ambitious anniversary plan to create a new youth dance company for its home city of Dundee.
Meanwhile, under the direction of Fleur Darkin, it continues to commission new work – this programme brings together two short pieces, both very individual, both with a surreal take on human nature.
Dreamers is a snap-happy piece by Slovakian choreographer Anton Lachky. Premiered last spring, its bodily stream of consciousness zips through energising sweeps of music by Bach, Verdi, Haydn, Chopin and Vanhal.
The dancers are live-wire perfect. They step out of line one by one, dipping, snaking and making faces through their turns. Dressed for an ordinary day, they present themselves in cartoonish outlines, skittering across the stage with sophistication and a touch of menace. Balancing power as they go, the group of nine jostle for position to become audience and director, dancers and choreographer, conductor and orchestra, puppeteer and puppet, wooer and wooed.
Up next is a world premiere in the form of Process Day, a piece made in collaboration with Jerusalem-born choreographer Sharon Eyal and producer/curator Gai Behar.
A torso strikes a pose against a subterranean techno beat by composer DJ Ori Lichtik. Organs rather than bodies come to mind. Legs are lost in the dark. Internal thunders rumble and subside through the score. Heads, bent low, butt into space with erotic rhythm. Set against the elephant-slow tiptoe walks and dramatic tableaux, shivers of climax are released across quivering chests and hands. There is powerful intent and skilful performance here, but with a strangely cold inwardness at its heart.
